Seared Shrimp with Mentuccia and Crushed Taralli

I desire fried seafood most of the time. The big bowls of fritto misto I’ve eaten many times in Southern Italy and in a few places in Manhattan are up there among my all-time favorite things to eat, ever. A perfect fritto misto for me contains whole anchovies or other small fish, calamari, shrimp, preferably with heads on, and sometimes sections of artichoke or zucchini, too. That cruddy little pot of condensed tomato sauce that almost always accompanies fried calamari in this country is something I’ve never seen in Italy. I don’t like it. It interferes with the fish and the fry. I want lemon juice, and I want salt.

Frying seafood in a small apartment like mine is asking to be trapped in a cat food can for a week. So instead of a deep fry, I usually do a sort of a semi-fry, something Italian cooks achieve with a hot pan, a few tablespoons of olive oil, and a coating of seasoned breadcrumbs. You just have to make sure the seafood cooks in a flash, to remain tender, and the crumbs don’t burn. Not all that difficult. It’s easiest to achieve when you use just one kind of seafood, which you can keep under control and get out all in one swift move. Here I use big shrimp, but I’ve made the same dish with squid, or with cuttlefish when I can find it. (I love cuttlefish. It’s a shame it’s not more popular here.)

This summer I’ve been keeping you all updated on the fluctuating state of my herb-filled stoop pots and window sills, especially my mentuccia, the European wild mint I’ve been growing for the first time. It’s doing phenomenally well at the moment (it’s pretty much a weed, not the hardest thing to keep going). I love its flavor, which is more complex than oregano’s and less floral than marjoram’s. I’ve added some to this shrimp dish and have been pleased with the outcome. If you don’t happen to have mentuccia on hand (you don’t?), use an equal mix of marjoram and thyme as a fine substitute.

A Note on Buying Shrimp: I’d also like to talk a little about how confusing it is when you try to buy sustainable shrimp. The places where I shop in Manhattan often carry five or six kinds of shrimp from various places around the world. They’re usually farmed. I know that farmed shrimp is not necessarily a bad thing; in fact it can be among our best choices. But what a maddening mess it is to sort it all out. When I need to be set straight on my aquatic purchases, I check in with www.seafoodwatch.org. This organization tells you what you should and shouldn’t buy. I’m grateful for it. I recently revisited its shrimp entry, and it had a lot to say.

It seems that most shrimp caught or farmed in the U.S. and Canada is our best choice, except for shrimp caught in the Gulf of Mexico with skimmer trawls. Shrimp from recirculating aquaculture systems is also a good choice, although markets don’t give us that information, so I’m not sure how we’re supposed to know when we’ve found it. There are some farmed Central and South American and Southeast Asian shrimp that Seafood Watch also lists as best choices (and some it doesn’t think much of).

The shrimp entry is long, going from best choices to the shrimp we just need to forget about, which, it seems, comes mostly from Mexico. Check out the complete listing. It will put you more at ease the next time you go to buy shrimp, I promise.

Seared Shrimp with Mentuccia and Crushed Taralli

(Serves 2)

4 unflavored taralli, ground, not too finely, in a food processor ( you can substitute 1/3 cup of dry breadcrumbs)
1 large summer garlic clove, minced
¼ teaspoon ground cumin seed
¼ teaspoon fennel seed
1 small fresh peperoncino, seeded and minced
The zest from 1 lemon, plus a few big squeezes of its juice
Salt
Extra-virgin olive oil
1 pound large shrimp, peeled, deveined, but with the tails left on
A big palmful of mentuccia leaves, lightly chopped, or an equal mix of marjoram and thyme leaves, chopped
A few large sprigs of flat leaf parsley, the leaves left whole

In a small bowl, mix together the ground taralli, garlic, cumin, fennel, peperoncino, lemon zest, and a good amount of salt.

Dry the shrimp, and put it in a larger bowl. Drizzle on about a tablespoon of olive oil, and toss to coat the shrimp well (this will help the crumbs adhere). Add the crumb mixture, and toss again.

Set a large, heavy-bottomed skillet (cast iron is good) over high flame. Add about 2 tablespoons of olive oil. When it’s very hot, add the shrimp, spreading it out in one layer as best you can. Sauté quickly, without moving it around, just until the crumbs start to turn golden and the shrimp tails turn pink. Give the shrimp a flip, and brown the other side. This should take only a few minutes, depending on the size of your shrimp. Add the mentuccia or the marjoram-thyme mix.

Tilt the shrimp out onto a large platter, leaving most of the oil behind. Give it a good squeeze of lemon juice. Garnish with parsley leaves, and serve right away.

Good point. Taralli are those little round hard biscuits that look like mini bagels, often flavored with fennel. I always have them around the house. They’re easy to crush and use for anything that requires a dry breadcrumb. But, they’re a substitution for breadcrumbs. I’ll add that to the post.

Welcome to Ericademane.com

I am a chef, food writer, and teacher who specializes in improvisational Italian cooking. I am the author of The Flavors of Southern Italy and Pasta Improvvisata, as well as Williams-Sonoma Pasta, which is available at Williams-Sonoma stores. A member of the Association of Culinary Professionals and the Italian-based International Slow Food Movement, I live in New York City. I offer private cooking classes, which you can learn about here.